42 The Calls? Sounds like a bordello. How did it get the name? The building was an old corn mill in The Calls, a cobbled street in the waterfront area of Leeds, beside the River Aire. It was saved from dilapidation in the Nineties by entrepreneur Jonathan Wix who turned it into a sleek, designer hotel with 41 bedrooms and oodles of class. Each room has a CD deck plus headphones (you can hire discs at reception); satellite television; a revolving cupboard in which your morning coffee, croissants and newspapers are placed; a lavish black and white tiled bathroom; and an umbrella, a particularly useful feature for a hotel in Yorkshire. For those overlooking the river, there is even a fishing rod to try your luck.

Sounds great. Is it comfortable? Despite minimalist chrome-and-leather, 42 The Calls is fairly sybaritic. The beds are large and springy; there are towelling robes in every bathroom; the buffet breakfasts - served in the River Room - are vast and imaginative, while the public rooms are air-conditioned. Not so much a posh hotel, more an elegant town house.

Did you eat out? Up to a point. We walked next door to Brasserie 44, for some impressive modern cuisine (balsamic vinegar, noodles, Moroccan flavouring, that sort of thing) served in a friendly, slightly chaotic atmosphere. Had we had been a bit more adventurous (and a bit better off), a few more steps would have taken us to the Michelin-starred Pool Court at 42 (creamed eggs with caviar, linguine with truffles, chocolate fondant). It's difficult to go hungry around here.

So is there any point in wandering further afield? Actually, there is. The Leeds waterfront has become ambitiously trendy. The much-maligned Royal Armouries museum is just across the river, and well worth a visit for its sweeping high-rise galleries and demonstrations of martial arts techniques, while the Victorian shopping arcades nearby now include the northern branch of Harvey Nichols. It's all absolutely fabulous, in other words.